Dessert was a highlight –molten cake oozing rich chocolate goo – and a scoop of cold vanilla ice cream – served on a sleek alabaster platter.

IF YOU’RE READY to try less traditional Mexican food (including riffs on Thai, Japanese, French and Greek cuisine), take a ten-minute cab ride from downtown to Chef Angel Vázquez’s hip intro.restaurant.

If you time it right, the restaurant will be rocking – the house DJ spins tunes as innovative as the chef’s fusion cuisine.

Dining here on separate occasions, I devoured two dishes that rank at the top of what I’ve eaten in my lifetime

If you’re food-obsessed, like me, however, you’ll be more excited about getting your hands dirty!Intro Restaurant’s talented chef offers fun, hands-on classes in mole truffle making — and you can eat your coursework while sipping a glass of full-bodied, red Mexican wine.

If you’re more of a traditionalist, Chef Alonso Hernández Juárez of Mesón Sacristía de la Companía Cooking School (located in downtown Puebla) offers basic Mexican cooking classes where you can bone up on the classics including chiles en nogada.

WHERE TO DRINK

Hotel La Purificadora has an upper floor bar overlooking the convention center and parts of the Church of San Francisco (best seen at sunset).

One of the attendees at a recent conference nicknamed this trendy bar/hotel “La Snob-afidoria.”

If you can get past the off-putting reception and service, La Purificadora’s open-air bar serves killer cocktails including cucumber-jicama or Hyacinth margaritas.

If you’re staying at the hotel, don a bikini and swim a few strokes in the bar’s tiny lap pool (or veg out – for all to see — in the jacuzzi).

Although Hotel Puebla Antano’s ground floor lobby bar is sedate, the second floor open-air bar is party zone central at night. (Potential hotel guests should keep this in mind when looking for a quiet place to sleep.) Views of the city at sunset make the relaxed, couch-filled space a pleasant place to hook up with friends before heading out to dinner.

WHERE TO SHOP

Calle de los Dulces is the place to go if you have a weakness for candies, cookies and sweet liquor.

Only a few blocks long, this “Sweets Street” is home to at least a dozen sellers of Tortas de Santa Clara (tarts made with lard-based pastry topped with sugar glaze), piggy-shaped molasses cookies (cochinitos), sweet potato candy (camote) vendors and rompope distributors (with many offering free tastings).